Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The government cannot justify Datuk Ibrahim Ali’s call to burn bibles as a defence of Islam as the religion does not teach its followers to insult other faiths, former deputy higher education minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said.

Saifuddin, who is chief executive officer of the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri’s argument that the threat was made to defend Islam may spread confusion.

“Hajah Nancy said that Datuk Ibrahim had no intention of creating religious chaos but was only defending the sanctity of Islam. The government should not come up with this kind of argument (defending Islam) because it may lead to a misconception of Islam,” said the former Umno supreme council member.

On Wednesday, Nancy said police had decided not to act against Ibrahim, who is Perkasa president, over his call last year to burn copies of the bible containing the word “Allah” because he was merely defending Islam.

Nancy said police concluded that his words were only directed at specific individuals, and were not a threat to the larger society.

Saifuddin said yesterday that several verses in the Quran stressed that Muslims should deal with adherents of other faiths in a just and peaceful manner.  — The Malaysian Insider


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 10, 2014.

 

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